This morning, the president attacked another member of Congress on Twitter.
This time it’s House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings.
He wrote this: Cumming District is a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess.
If he spent more time in Baltimore, maybe he could help clean up this very dangerous
& filthy place.
No human being would want to live there.
Infested.
That’s usually reserved for references to rodents and insects, but we’ve seen the
president invoke infestation to criticize lawmakers before.
See a pattern here?
Just two weeks ago, president Trump attacked four minority congresswomen.
“Why don’t they go back to the totally broken a crime-infested places from which
they came?”
Reminder: three of them were born here, all of them are American.
Infested, he says.
A week before his inauguration, January of 2017: “Congressman John Lewis should spend
more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart,
not to mention crime-infested.”
Donald Trump has tweeted more than 43,000 times.
He’s insulted thousands of people, many different types of people.
But when he tweets about infestation, it’s about black and brown people.
September 2014, at the height of an urgent health emergency: “Why are we sending thousands
of ill-trained soldiers into Ebola infested areas of Africa?
Bring the plague to the U.S.? Obama is so stupid.”
Infested, he says.
“There’s a revolution going on in California.
So many Sanctuary areas want out of this ridiculous, crime infested and breeding concept.”
Infested, he says.
The president says about Congressman Cummings’ district
that no HUMAN would want to live there.
You know who did, Mr. President?
I did.
From the day I was brought home from the hospital to the day I left for college.
And a lot of people I care about still do.
There are challenges, no doubt, but people are proud of their community.
I don’t want to sound self-righteous, but people get up and go to work there, they care
for their families there, they love their children who pledge allegiance to the flag,
just like people who live in districts of congressmen who support you, sir.
They are Americans, too.
This is CNN host Victor Blackwell delivering an impassioned message for Trump after the
president took to Twitter to launch a racist attack against House Oversight Chairman Elijah
Cummings, calling him a bully and his district a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess.
And it’s no surprise that he would take on Cummings.
The Oversight Committee chairman has shown the most moral clarity of anyone in Congress
in terms of holding Trump and his administration accountable for wrongdoing.
Just yesterday, the Oversight committee approved subpoenas for White House officials, including
Ivanka, Jared Kushner, and Steve Bannon, among others, who were using – and I hope you’re
ready for this – personal devices and email accounts to conduct government business.
And Cummings also made headlines last week for laying into Trump’s acting Department
of Homeland Security Secretary, who had the audacity to suggest that his department was
doing their best with regard to migrants at the border.
The same migrants, mind you, who’ve been denied beds, soap, toothpaste, showers, have
been separated from their children, and some of whom have lost their lives in US custody—
You feel like you’re doing a great job right?
Is that what you’re saying?
We’re doing our level best— What does that mean?
What does it mean when a child is sitting in their own feces?
Can’t take a shower?
Come on, man!
What’s that about?
None of us would have our children in that position.
They are human beings!
But Trump isn’t just attacking Cummings over his legislative agenda.
Consider this-- in 2017, he invoked the word infested when he set his sights on Congressman
John Lewis.
In 2018, Trump again invoked the word infested when talking about sanctuary cities for migrants.
And just last week, Trump invoked the word “infested” when telling four nonwhite
Democrats – AOC, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, and Ayanna Pressley – to go back to where
they came from.
And now, today, he invoked it once again while attacking Elijah Cummings.
Now what could Ocasio-Cortez, Tlaib, Omar, Pressley, Lewis, Cummings, and migrants possibly
have in common?
…Yeah this could take a while.
And what’s worse, Maryland’s 7th district, which Cummings represents, is actually relatively
exemplary.
It’s the 2nd wealthiest majority-black district in the United States, with a $58,000 median
household income, and the 2nd most well-educated majority-black district, with 86% graduating
from high school and 37% graduating from college, which is a higher percentage of college graduates
than the nation as a whole.
But the district is also ranked 16th in terms of the percentage of black residents, and
that’s the point.
Obviously, Trump wasn’t making some nuanced argument against the district’s median income
or education rates; it was, per usual, an outright, overt racist attack against minorities.
It is the desperate flailings of a president facing impeachment and backed into a corner
with no support beyond a dwindling base that is more than happy to indulge his bigoted
rhetoric.
But Cummings, for his part, didn’t let Trump’s attack go unanswered.
He took to Twitter, saying: Mr. President, I go home to my district daily.
Each morning, I wake up, and I go and fight for my neighbors.
It is my constitutional duty to conduct oversight of the Executive Branch.
But, it is my moral duty to fight for my constituents.
Just yesterday, I held a hearing on the skyrocketing prices of prescription drugs and the financial
hardships that families across the nation, and in Baltimore, are facing.
Two years ago, I went to the White House to ask you to endorse my bill to let the government
negotiate directly for lower drug prices.
You told me then that you supported the legislation and that you would work with me to make it
happen.
I took you at your word.
And while his response was full of grace and class, it was actually more damaging than
any mudslinging Trump was looking for, because Cummings struck at the heart of the president’s
fake populism.
Trump has been using his racist dog whistles and identity politics BS to serve as cover
for the fact that his agenda is the farthest thing from populist.
The president came into office on the backs of regular working class people looking for
a break, looking for someone to protect their healthcare, for someone to fight for higher
wages, for someone – as Cummings said – to get drug prices down, and Trump has failed
on every front.
His administration has refused to defend Obamacare in court, which is the ONLY reason why 20
million more Americans have healthcare today than they did before the ACA came into effect.
His administration had overseen wage growth barely above inflation while executive salaries
skyrocket.
And drug prices have gone up a staggering 10.5% in just the last six months.
In reality, Trump’s only major legislative victory was a $1.5 trillion tax cut for the
rich.
THAT’S who he’s looking out for.
THAT’S who’s reaping the benefits of this presidency.
Trump might insulate himself with populist rhetoric, but reality paints a much different
picture.
So look for Trump to continue stoking tribalistic divisions in this country to distract from
the fact that he’s all but abandoned what tenuous promises he’s actually made.
The president might lie at every turn, but the truth about who he’s working for is
right out in the open.